IBM recently announced it
has completed the acquisition of the software portfolio of Star Analytics,
Inc., a privately held business analytics company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Financial
terms were not disclosed.

The combination of IBM and
Star Analytics’ software will further advance IBM's business analytics
initiatives allowing clients to easily access financial information stored in
their applications, allowing them to make more informed decisions faster.

Star Analytics software
addresses a rising challenge for organizations -- helping to automatically
integrate essential information, reporting applications and business analytics
tools across their enterprises, on premise or from cloud computing
environments. The software removes typical custom coding for specialized
sources that are hard to maintain, and eliminates manual processes that are
cumbersome and time consuming.

"Applying analytics to
a wide range of data requires organizations to democratize and speed sharing of
critical information across an enterprise," said Les Rechan, IBM General
Manager, Business Analytics. "Star Analytics’ software advances IBM’s
efforts to deliver analytics that span all data sources directly into the hands
of front line employees, and delivers a comprehensive approach to helping
clients uncover new, untapped growth opportunities.”

Star Analytics’ software,
combined with IBM's R&D and prior acquisitions in business analytics
including Varicent, Algorithmics, Clarity Systems, OpenPages and Cognos, and
recent investments in predictive analytics such as SPSS, will provide clients
with a broad range of business analytics solutions. These acquisitions are
part of IBM's larger focus on analytics, which spans hardware, software,
services and research.

The news supports IBM's
long-term growth strategy to expand the company’s business analytics and
optimization software and services capabilities, an area of IBM's business that
is expected to reach $20 billion in revenue by 2015.

IBM has established one of
the world’s deepest portfolios of analytics and big data technologies and
industry expertise, including almost 9,000 dedicated business analytics and
optimization consultants, and 400 researchers. Nearly 500 of the patents
from IBM’s record breaking 20th year of innovation will serve as the building
blocks for future analytics innovations that can help businesses and
governments unlock the power of big data.

With the closing of this
acquisition, it is expected that all Star Analytics employees will join IBM's
Software Group.

IBM Cited As a Leader in
Business Intelligence Services by Independent Research Firm

IBM recently announced that Forrester Research, Inc.
has recognized IBM as a market leader in business intelligence (BI) services
according to the October 2012 report, The Forrester WaveTM: Business
Intelligence Services Providers, Q4 20121. The report, which
evaluates the leading BI providers by strategy and technology expertise, cites
IBM as leading the market in both areas.

Based on a 53-criteria evaluation of BI services
providers, the report indicates that in addition to having one of the largest
business intelligence practices globally, with “capabilities and presence in a
broad range of industries, technologies and geographies, IBM has skills in core
BI areas (advisory, technology implementation, and outsourcing) and has
pioneered some of the most innovative research and offerings in the market
today, such as the Watson cognitive computing system.”

The report also emphasizes that while IBM has a substantial number of external
alliances, with firms like SAP, Oracle and Teradata, it also has expertise in
its own analytics products such as InfoSphere, SPSS, and Cognos. Additionally
IBM is the only vendor to get a perfect score for the Strategy, as well as the
“Use of BI methodology within one’s business,” categories.

An event for European Consultants
and Systems integrators -IBM Montpellier, - February 9th – 10th

Despite an abundance of data and content, most decision makers act without the
right information and insight. Organizations that connect people with trusted,
relevant information and foster a fact-based culture are able to confidently
predict, plan and act to optimize business outcomes. They are using Business Analytics and Optimization (BAO) solutions
to become analytics-driven organizations. This one-and-a-half day workshop will
go into the details of these solutions.